The sound of the arriving car alerted his father, who had been reading in the study.
Father Shao put on a coat and came downstairs, meeting his son’s gaze as Shao Siyan entered.
Without even greeting him, Shao Siyan walked straight inside.
Father Shao smiled first. “A-Yan, why didn’t you tell us you were coming home? It’s so late. Have you eaten? Dad will arrange something for you.”
“There’s no need.”
Shao Siyan did not even glance at him and continued inside.
Seeing his son ignore him, Father Shao’s blood pressure rose. Slapping the banister, he cursed, “I’m your father! What kind of attitude is that when I’m talking to you? Your wings have hardened, and now you don’t respect your own father! The public ought to see how you treat me! And they call you one of the Ten Outstanding Young People…”
The heavy wooden door shut out his voice.
Shao Siyan looked at the glossy, greasy food nervously presented by the cooks and felt only disgust.
He waved them away.
None of them dared leave.
The head chef asked attentively, “Is none of this to your taste? Tell us what you would like, President Shao, and we’ll prepare it immediately.”
“Tiramisu.”
Shao Siyan answered casually, then froze himself.
The cooks looked troubled, exchanging glances.
At last, the head chef said, “President Shao, we don’t have the ingredients here. If we make it, someone will have to go down the mountain and buy them.”
Shao Siyan’s expression darkened slightly, though he knew he could not blame them.
Father Shao favored savory food. He believed a grown man should not behave like a woman and crave little sweets every day. In his view, desserts prevented boys from developing masculinity.
“There are no women or children at home, so we can dispense with a pastry chef.”
That was how the cooking staff had been arranged.
Because Shao Siyan’s return was unexpected, every other kind of dish was available, but no one had replenished the things he liked in time.
No matter how often people said the Shao family would belong to Shao Siyan in the future, they had to survive the present before reaching that future.
If they dared disobey Chairman Shao’s instructions, they might lose their jobs that very day. How could they talk about the future then?
Shao Siyan lost his appetite and dropped his chopsticks. “Forget it.”
He rarely made life difficult for others.
Yet the head chef went pale and trembled, looking ready to fall to his knees and beg forgiveness.
Terrified, he said, “Please don’t be angry, President Shao. I—I’ll arrange for someone to prepare it immediately.”